Oklahoma Gazette
Soundcheck News
July 27, 2007

Fidgety children crowded the Shawnee Public Library. Unleashed on the work for summer break, they were in dire need of entertainment. Saving the day: Oklahoma's own Sugar Free Allstars.

A funk-fueled tandem of quirky wit and bouncy melodies that has been scoring adult fans throughout the state. But now with "Dos Ninos," their first album for kids, the Allstars now are setting their sights to the under-5-foot crowd with a public library tour that will be hitting 24 libraries in two months.

"The Arts Council (of Oklahoma City) called and asked if we'd be willing to do a library tour," organist Chris Wiser said. "It's exciting for us because it's a completely different avenue that we've never explored."

Much like They Might Be Giants, their music always appealed to children even when the subject matter wasn't kid-friendly. Making "Dos Ninos" wasn't much of a stretch, considering two of the songs the kids responded to the most - "Stinky" and "Spider" - were songs they were performing long before they'd thought about a children's album.

Wiser said that even though the audience has changed, their performances haven't, save a restriction on salty language. With short attention spans, high levels of crowd chatter and the occasional thrown object, the audience behaves much the same at a bar as they do at a library.

"We're used to playing to drunk adults," Wiser said, "so there's not a lot of differences except we get done before 4 in the morning."

-Charles Martin